FIRST YEARLINGS

Stallion sons of Oasis Dream (by Green Desert) have been producing some notable results and in classic-placed stakes winner we have a horse who was also precocious: he beat Slade Power by four lengths in a six-furlong Curragh maiden in May of his two-year-old season. He made €500,000 as a yearling and he comes from a prolific blacktype family often noted for its speed.

He later finished third in the Group 1 Middle Park Stakes, beaten just a length behind the winner Crusade. At three he finished third to Power in the Group 1 Irish 2000 Guineas, and at four he was a neck runner-up to Hitchens in the Group 3 Greenlands Stakes before taking a seven-furlong listed contest at Naas.

Reply's half-brother Indian Days (by Daylami) got middle-distance stamina from his sire rather than showing the family's pace, he won the Group 3 John Porter Stakes and two editions of the Group 2 International Bosphorus Trophy, and he took up stallion duties in Turkey. Their other notable sibling, the ill-fated Biniou (by Mozart), was the son of a sprint champion and he got his listed race wins and several pattern placings over five and six furlongs.

Cap Coz (by Indian Ridge), who is the dam of Reply, made a winning debut over five and a half furlongs at Chantilly in May of her two-year-old season, won a seven-furlong listed contest just under two months later, and she was twice Group 3 placed over that same trip. The first was her half-length defeat by Lady Vettori in the Group 3 Prix du Calvados at Deauville and the second, the following summer, was a half-length defeat by Josr Algarhoud in the Group 3 Prix de la Porte Maillot at Longchamp.

Pont-Aven (by Try My Best), the grandam of Reply, chased home Houseproud in the Group 1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches (French 1000 Guineas) but won the Group 3 Prix de Saint-Georges over five furlongs and was beaten by a nose by Lugana Beach in the Group 3 Prix du Petit Couvert.

Her star daughter was the dual Group 2 Prix du Gros-Chene heroine Sainte Marine (by Kenmare), who also won the Group 3 Prix de Saint-Georges and a five-furlong listed contest and was twice runner-up in the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes. In 1998 she chased home one-length winner Lochangel, before taking third to My Best Valentine in the Group 1 Prix de l'Abbaye de Longchamp, and in 1999 it was Stravinsky who beat her at York.

Pont-Aven's top son was Josr Algarhoud, one of the fastest horses by middle-distance star and influence Darshaan (by Shirley Heights). The lightly-raced colt won the Group 2 Gimcrack Stakes, Group 3 Beeswing Stakes and Group 3 Prix de la Porte Maillot, he chased home Cape Cross in the Group 2 Celebration Mile, and was third in the Group 2 Challenge Stakes, although he achieved only moderate success at stud.

The mare was also responsible for the pattern-placed stakes winner Traou Mad (by Barathea), whose stakes-placed daughter Roscoff (by Daylami) has done her part for the family by producing the Group 2 Gran Criterium and Group 3 Premio Parioli scorer Hero Look (by Lope De Vega).

Albacora (by Fairy King), a half-sister to Pont-Aven, got her blacktype success over seven and a half furlongs and later became the dam of the Listed Cheshire Oaks winner Hammiya (by Darshaan). That filly, in turn, if the dam of the 10-furlong German listed scorer Shaquira (by Redoute's Choice) and of the stakes-placed miler Adhwaa (by Oasis Dream).

The fourth dam of Reply is leading Canadian juvenile Gay Apparel (by Up Spirits), a mare from whom a variety of stakes and pattern winners descend, including the recent Goodwood Group 3 scorer Al Jazi (by Canford Cliffs), although their relationship to this young stallion is remote.

Reply stands for just €2,000 at Haras d'Ayguemorte in France. Many of his progeny are likely to race in that country, and with his pedigree and racing credentials it is entirely possible that he could get some smart handicappers or even blacktype horses in the sprinters or milers division.